July 2017 News

I had a report to write at the start of June but then I was hit by the dreaded lurgy and a nasty chesty thing that my doctor is still working on. June disappeared!

Wouldn’t a nice local YamDaisy Cafe have been useful to make meals easy while I was so crook!

Anyway, here is the Catch Up!

At the time of the May newsletter we were looking at our next step.

Markets

Most feedback favoured Markets and I found the Kingsbury Drive Community Market that is held each Sunday in the La Trobe university carpark. It is run by a community organisation and keeps spaces for community groups. It is really busy, with a wide variety of stalls and I talked to the organiser who was very encouraging when I talked about YamDaisy providing soup.

I was a bit worried about the health and safety regulations for serving hot fresh food when I looked them up. There is a long list of things we would need to do and have. So more research was called for!

….But before I could start following up all the regulations, we got an exciting call from Rev. David Peake of Equbed.

The GuardHouse

David asked if we were interested in running the little cafe in the converted gatehouse of Hume Community Hub. This is in the old Ericsson factory in Dallas (Melbourne). It was such an exciting opportunity. Kind of like the Foyer on steroids, with 400 workers in the organisations at the Hub plus clients and local residents and businesses. We did lots of research, but in the end it came down to the kitchen needs for our fresh, healthy YamDaisy food, that just couldn’t fit into the space. So disappointing! We hated having to say no to such a lovely offer.

On the upside, All this experience and research has helped our perspective and shaped our next step.

A Kitchen!

We are now going to look for a commercial (or industrial!) kitchen, preferably in a community organisation, preferably in Darebin, where we can get in and make YamDaisy meals for people who need them. We will experiment with a wide variety of meals that suit the equipment, that suit a wide variety of tastes, and fit Australian Dietary Guidelines. Lynne, Roger and I will volunteer our time and the ingredients so we can just get going and do it.

We’ll be checking out a variety of commercial (or industrial!) kitchens.. We have a little list, but if you know one that we should check out, please let me know.

Pick up a meal for someone who needs it.

While we will happily give meals to the workers and clients connected to the kitchen we use, and anyone who wants to pick up a meal to make their dinner easier, our main call will be to people who can pick up a meal to give to someone who needs help to eat well. An elderly neighbour perhaps, a family with a new baby, someone who is ill or injured, someone living with stress.

Start small and let it grow.

We are going to start with small quantities as we get used to the kitchen and to working together. Hopefully each time we cook we will have more food to give people. When we are rolling along nicely we will get our business permit and start trading as YamDaisy. Then we can consider expanding into markets, catering, pop ups and other venues. Our eyes on the main prize: our stand alone YamDaisy Community Cafe.

Food Handling Skills Certificate

We are organising training for our Food Handling Skills Certificate (thanks Craig) after the school holidays. If we find more people to do it, the costs will go down. And if you have the certificate you will be able to come and help us cook (once we know what we are doing!). So do let me know if you are interested, or if you know someone who wants to get this certificate too. It will be a great day of training! (Melbourne!)

So it is all go at YamDaisy! I’m already looking forward to giving you our next report!